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Thursday, March 2, 2006

As the Australian Prime Minister John Howard celebrated his ten-year reign this week, Greens Leader Bob Brown marked the 10th anniversary of his election into the Federal parliament.

Senator Brown has outlasted 10 other party leaders: Meg Lees, Cheryl Kernot, Natasha Stott-Despoja, Brian Greig, Andrew Bartlett, all former Democrat leaders. Pauline Hanson, Len Harris of the One Nation party, plus the Australian Labor Party’s Kim Beazley, Simon Crean and Mark Latham have all been and gone during that time.

Only Prime Minister John Howard and Senator Bob Brown are left standing as leaders in the Australian Federal Parliament. Bob Brown was elected to the Senate in 1996, and re-elected in 2001. He has introduced bills for constitutional reform, forest protection, to block radioactive waste dumping, to ban mandatory sentencing, and greenhouse abatement.

Senator Brown says his party has hardly been in the balance of power at any stage, yet the Australian Greens have risen in popularity. “We’ve become the third major political party in the country and we’re on our way to becoming a real power broker in this country and ultimately, the aim has to be becoming part of the Government of the country,” he told ABC Radio.

While there’s perpetual media speculation over John Howard’s possible retirement, Senator Brown says he’s full of beans and ready for the next 10 years. “And there’s no speculation about me standing at next year’s election. I can’t wait,” Senator Brown said. “Our election aim will be to rescue the Senate from the Howard government, and doubling our team is not beyond reality.”

The Tasmanian Greens senator predicts his party could govern the country one day. “We’re on our way to becoming a real powerbroker in this country and ultimately the aim has to be becoming part of the government of the country,” he said.

The Greens started with Brown’s entry into the Senate after the 1996 election, doubled to two senators in 2001, and has four had senators represented since 2004.

The four Greens senators and their staff say they will celebrate with a chocolate cake – and 10 green candles. The government held a gala fundraising dinner in the Great Hall of Parliament on Wednesday night to celebrate Mr Howard’s milestone.

Senator Brown said the success of Prime Minister John Howard is in his ability to play on fears. “(Howard)… is able to “dig a little bit below surface to play on fears that people have. He has presided over a country where the rich have got richer much faster than the poor have seen their conditions improve,” he said. “And it is a country that says if you are down on your luck, bad luck. The good Samaritan aspect which is very strong in this country, doesn’t reside with this government.”

Of the Federal Labor Party the Greens leader said they should move back to humanitarian politics He said Labor was trying to swing to the right but had lost its way. “I think the Opposition has lost its way and I think it is going to get worse,” Senator Brown said. “The indications are that the Opposition thinks if it moves to the right it will do better,” said Senator Brown.

Bob Brown is among 20 environmentalists, organisations and concerned citizens who were issued a 216 page writ by the Tasmanian-based timber company Gunns Limited in December 2004. The woodchipping giant is sueing for a combined AU$6.3 million for actions it claims has damaged their business and reputation. The defendants say the case is ‘industrial’ style litigation, alleging conspiracy, interference with trade and business and defamation. Nine different campaigns are cited.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

As many as eight people have been injured after two cable cars collided at the Nevis Range near Fort William in Scotland.

Two RAF helicopters, an air ambulance, four ambulance crews, police, fire brigade and a mountain rescue team are among those present. Police have confirmed that three people have been injured, including one child. Injuries include broken legs, head and chest injuries. The Scottish Ambulance Service have reported that up to seven people had been thrown on to the hillside. A reporter at the scene said one car near the top of the mountain had slid down a cable, hitting another and then one of the cars fell to the ground.

Northern Constabulary have stated “It’s understood that two gondolas would appeared to have collided and a number of casualties have been reported. The local mountain rescue team, Inverness helimed and other air support are in attendance to remove casualties”.

The Doppelmayr gondola system is made up of eighty six-seat closed cabins running on a continuous 4.6km steel cable.

Saturday, June 4, 2005

On Friday, the U.S. military released the results of their investigation and confirmed that in 5 separate incidents, American guards at the Guantánamo Bay prison “mishandled” the Islamic holy book. However, they stress that guards were usually “respectful” of the Qur’an.

One incident involved splashing a Qur’an with urine by urinating near an air vent while others involved kicking, stepping on and writing in Qur’ans.

Brigadier-General Jay Hood, the commander of the jail, said that these incidents are the exception to the rule. In a statement issued late Friday, he said: “The inquiry … revealed a consistent, documented policy of respectful handling of the Qur’an dating back almost two-and-a-half years.”

Gen. Hood looked into the allegations, published and then retracted by Newsweek, that American personnel flushed a Qur’an down a toilet. He said that the inquiry did not find any evidence supporting this particular allegation. “The inquiry found no credible evidence that a member of the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed a Qur’an down a toilet. This matter is considered closed.”

The incidents reported are:

• a guard kicking a prisoner’s Qur’an;
• Qur’ans wetted by water balloons thrown by guards;
• a “two-word obscenity” written, in English, inside the cover of a Qur’an. Military officials state that it is equally possible that a guard wrote this in the prisoner’s Qur’an or that the prisoner wrote this in his own Qur’an;
• a guard who urinated too close to an air vent, spraying a Qur’an with urine;
• an interrogator who stepped on a Qur’an during an interrogation.

The investigation also revealed 15 alleged cases of Qur’an mistreatment by detainees themselves. Detainees used Qur’ans as pillows, urinated on them, and, several times, tore pages out of copies of the books, according to the report. For example, the report states that a guard observed a “detainee place two Qur’ans in his toilet and state he no longer cared about the Qur’an or his religion,” on February 23, 2004. It is believed that such behavior is intended to cause disruption and problems for the guards.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

An English lawyer has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He faked a legal judgment and sent it to a father who was pleading in Taunton family court to be able to remain involved in his child’s upbringing. The lawyer, London barrister Bruce Hyman, now awaits his sentence. The judge indicated that he could receive a prison sentence. Bruce Hyman is well-known in media circles, having produced The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on BBC Radio. He also produced a series with Clive Anderson, at Above the Title Productions, called Unreliable Evidence.

The father, a former City financier, had attended a series of court hearings in order to make suitable arrangements to see his child following an acrimonious divorce. Shortly before one of these hearings he received an email, ostensibly from a self-help group to which he belonged, which had attached a Court of Appeal case that appeared favourable to an application he had made for the judge to stand down from the case. The father, who was representing himself, duly showed the case to the judge. At this point, Bruce Hyman, the lawyer representing the former wife, claimed to the judge that the case was a forgery, which indeed it turned out to be.

After confirming that the self-help group had not sent him the email, the father then embarked on some detective work his own. The fraudulent email was traced via its header to a dial-up internet connection and a phone number belonging to a shop in London. The shop was able to recover CCTV footage which showed a man sending the email from an Apple laptop. The man turned out to be Bruce Hyman.

Sentencing of Hyman is due in Bristol Crown Court on the 19th of September.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Realising how visual a medium tattooing is, tattoo artist Kat Von D of TV series LA Ink set a world record while raising funds to fight childhood blindness. In 24 hours, Von D tattooed 400 people with an “LA” logo, in her West Hollywood, California tattoo shop.

The December event at High Voltage Tattoo drew 1000 people in line, although only 400 could get the image emblazoned on them, for a $20 donation. Most learned of the event through her MySpace profile. In all, the funds raised will help 32,000 children’s eyesight, through Vitamin Angels.

Vitamin Angels is the only organization in the world solely dedicated to eradicating vitamin A definciency among children, with the goal of warding off youth blindness by 2020. The year 2020 is chosen because perfect vision is described as “20/20“.

First in line at the event was Jose Flores, who had camped out in front of the store since 7:15 the previous evening. Doors didn’t open until 10 am, and Flores didn’t get the tattoo until Von D was done with her friends and family, including internet celebrity Jeffree Star.

A Guinness World Records official was scheduled to attend, but was caught in a snow storm.

Katherine Von Drachenberg told the Los Angeles Times that, as a teenager, she “be at the mall and parents would grab their kids and be like, ‘Honey!’ It was like that scene in Pretty Woman, where the women on Rodeo Drive think Julia Roberts is going to shoplift. Now people just come up to me more out of curiosity — everyone from grandmas to soccer moms.”

The record setting event was filmed for LA Ink, a series that airs Tuesday nights on TLC in the United States. The series is a spin-off of Miami Ink, a series featuring Von D’s previous place of employ, before she set off on her own.

The series’ second season started last night, however that particular episode will air March 4.

Friday, June 29, 2007

A car containing an large explosive device has been defused in the Haymarket, London. A second device was later found in a car park in Park Lane.

A car, a light metallic green Mercedes-Benz E Class saloon (produced 1984-1995), parked near the nightclub ‘TigerTiger’, contained petrol, gas cylinders and nails. Police described it as a “potentially viable explosive device”.

Police carried out a controlled explosion at 2:00 a.m. BST and the car has been taken to a forensic explosives laboratory for further investigation.

Eyewitnesses saw the car driving “erratically” and colliding with bins before being abandoned. An ambulance crew in the area alerted police after seeing smoke inside the car.

Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Clarke said there could have been “significant injury or loss of life”.

A meeting of COBRA, chaired by new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was held about the incident.

Police say it is too early to tell who is behind the threat. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the country faces a “serious and continued security threat” and urged people to “be vigilant at all times”.

Disruption has been caused to transport in the area with roads closed and bus routes diverted. Piccadilly Circus tube station has reopened after an earlier closure

Police are reviewing major events to be held in London over the weekend.

CBS News has reported that a message appeared on the widely used jihadist Internet forum Al-Hesbah at 8:09 a.m. June 28, saying: “Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed.” The message went on to mention the recently announced knighthood of Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.

Following an incident at Glasgow airport, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced the elevation of the UK’s national threat level from “Severe” to “Critical”, indicating that an attack could be expected “imminently”.

Two people have been arrested in Cheshire in connection with the Glasgow International Airport attack and attempted London car bombings.

Park Lane was closed to the public due to a suspicious car parked in the underground car park beneath Hyde Park. Police, who believed the two incidents to be linked, cordoned off Park Lane and Hyde Park to allow the bomb disposal unit access to the vehicle. The car was illegally parked on Cockspur Street and was towed to the pound on Park Lane, it was then discovered that the car contained an explosive device.